Driving the Day

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK —MARK PUTNAM, the Dem ad maker, cut a 12-minute bio spot for ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, the former Los Angeles mayor who is running for the party’s nomination for governor against Gavin Newsom. The spot draws a contrast with President Trump — Villaraigosa visited the Mexican border — and also talks frankly about how he was abused as a child. The 12-minute videohttp://bit.ly/2y0zMHx

Good Tuesday morning. A FEW NOTES from last night, as Washington began to fill up with 535 members of the House and Senate. …

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— REPUBLICANS in the House are increasingly bullish that they’ll pass their tax reform bill before the Thanksgiving recess. If everything goes right, it’s possible that can happen. They have 15 legislative days before Thanksgiving.

— REPUBLICANS ALSO SAY THEY BELIEVE that if they get tax reform through soon, they could stop a number of lawmakers from retiring out of frustration that Congress can’t get anything done. If a bunch of House Republicans head for the exits, it will make it that much harder for the GOP to keep control of the chamber.

— SIREN: REPUBLICAN OPERATIVES AND TOP GOP OFFICIALS increasingly believe the 2018 midterm elections boils down to one simple data point: if the party does not deliver on a large-scale tax cut before the election, they will lose their House majority.

ABOUT TAX REFORM …

— THE SALES JOB: “Senior White House aides plot multi-million-dollar campaign for tax reform,” by Alex Isenstadt: “Senior White House officials huddled on Monday evening with the leaders of an administration-backed political group to begin mapping out a multimillion-dollar campaign to sell tax reform. With President Donald Trump set to meet with Senate Republicans on Tuesday, the push is taking on greater intensity.

“Those involved in Monday’s gathering included Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner and Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, Nick Ayers. Also present were Brian Walsh, Brad Parscale, Katie Walsh, and Corey Lewandowski — all top strategists for the pro-Trump nonprofit America First Policies.

“During the course of the hour-long meeting, top officials with America First Policies signaled plans to wage an aggressive effort to push tax reform, according to four people with knowledge of the discussion. The group told the White House it was planning to spend in the millions. A White House spokesman declined to comment on the talks.” http://politi.co/2yMJAE5

— IT’S HARD … “Cutting Taxes Is Hard. Trump Is Making It Harder,” by NYT’s Jim Tankersley: “Overhauling the tax code was never going to be easy given that it requires targeting lucrative and politically popular tax breaks to mitigate the magnitude of cuts Republicans are envisioning. Lawmakers must mitigate the revenue loss from those tax cuts in order to avoid a Democratic filibuster and pass a bill along party lines. Publicly and privately, supporters of the Republican tax effort say they are concerned that Mr. Trump will make a hard task even harder. The Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act was a similarly difficult effort, and the president’s comments and actions were often not helpful. … ‘The Trump calling things “mean” threat is very real right now,’ said Jon Lieber, a former top aide to Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader.” http://nyti.ms/2z39THa

— TRUMP’S MISSIVES: “Trump’s promises narrow GOP’s options on tax bill,” by WaPo’s Damian Paletta and Mike DeBonis: “[T]rump promised the party would not touch tax benefits for 401(k) retirement plans, protecting a popular benefit for more than 50 million Americans but also further limiting the areas where Republicans could seek to raise new revenue. .. ‘You are trying to stuff a $4 trillion or $5 trillion tax cut in a $1.5 trillion box,’ said Steve Moore, who was one of President Trump’s top economic advisers during the 2016 campaign. ‘That means something has to give here.’” http://wapo.st/2le06bi

— THE HILL VISITS: PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP is going to the Hill to speak with the Senate Republican policy lunch. VP MIKE PENCE is also on the Hill, visiting with individual lawmakers.

TRUMP’S TUESDAY — The president is participating in a minority enterprise development week ceremony. He’ll also swear in Callista Gingrich as ambassador to the Vatican.

SEUNG MIN KIM SCOOP: PROGRESS ON A DACA DEAL? — “Republicans quietly plot Dreamers deal”: “Key Senate Republicans have begun privately discussing the contours of an immigration plan to shield the hundreds of thousands of Dreamers who will lose work permits and deportation protections starting early next year. Preliminary talks show that influential GOP senators are eager to devise a legislative fix for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals that could pass muster with both Democrats and President Donald Trump, who said he will start winding down the Obama-era program in March to force lawmakers to come up with a permanent DACA measure with significant border security and enforcement provisions attached.

“In an interview, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, has convened a working group on immigration that includes himself and GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and James Lankford of Oklahoma, as well as other lawmakers. Sens. David Perdue of Georgia and Jeff Flake of Arizona also are among the Republicans who have been engaged in the talks, according to sources. ‘There’s a solution to be had there,’ Cornyn said. ‘But we just need to get on with it.’” http://politi.co/2gIenLL

HARRY REID: STILL DOING HIS THING — “Reid still wielding major influence over Democrats,” by Gabe Debenedetti in Las Vegas and Burgess Everett: “‘I didn’t want anyone thinking I was still trying to run the Senate, so I told them I wasn’t going to try and run the Senate. I told Schumer: If you need me, you call me anytime, I’m available. I will only call you under circumstances I think I need to. And that’s what I’ve done,’ he said. ‘I hope that makes him feel good, that I’m not saying, ‘Chuck, why the hell’d you do that?’ Or calling [Senate Minority Whip Dick] Durbin and saying, ‘Talk to Chuck and tell him, don’t do that, that’s so dumb.’ Or call Schumer and say, ‘Tell Durbin to shut up.’ I haven’t done that.’ …

— REID ON BANNON: “‘Until the last year or so, I never heard of the man. Now I’ve heard of him,’ Reid said of Bannon. ‘He’s obviously very persuasive and extremely smart. Everyone acknowledges he’s smart and persuasive.’ …

— REID ON 2020: “Reid acknowledges he’s popular among potential presidential hopefuls eager to check in with the longtime political chief of an influential early voting battleground state. ‘I am happy to see people wanting to run. That’s why, all these people who want to run for president? [It’s] good,’ he said. ‘They come here and say they’re going to run. I say, ‘Good, run.’ That’s what I’ve told a few of them.’ How many? ‘Enough.’” http://politi.co/2yK2Txs

ISAAC DOVERE talks with NRSC VICE CHAIRMAN THOM TILLIS in the latest “Off Message” podcast. “Tillis said wants to be cremated, and he wants the urn to say: ‘Husband. Father. Grandfather. RINO.’ Except he likes to make the initials stand for ‘Republican in Need of Outcomes.’ And from his spot in the Senate and as finance chair of the NRSC, he said that’s what they all need. ‘If we fail to produce an outcome, it will be a very difficult couple of cycles in the U.S. Senate and in the House,’ Tillis says. ‘If we don’t, then I think we will be fighting hand-to-hand in every state.’” http://politi.co/2xkf3KB … Listen to the full podcasthttp://apple.co/2e2dLvm

BY THE WAY … — ATTORNEY GENERAL JEFF SESSIONS spoke at the International Association of Chiefs of Police convention in Philadelphia Monday morning. A DOJ-owned Gulfstream V took off from Andrews Air Force Base at 10:11 a.m. Monday morning and landed at Philadelphia International at 10:45 a.m. It flew from Philadelphia back to Andrews at 1:06 p.m. http://bit.ly/2hZ8JBC Of course, the train is a much easier way to get to Philly. But the attorney general is one government official who is urged to use government aircraft for security reasons.

****** A message from Chevron: When an endangered butterfly was found near a Chevron refinery, we protected the habitat and still plant the only thing they eat—buckwheat. Watch the video: http://politi.co/2gDPSQ6 ******

KEEP AN EYE ON THIS – “Small Montana firm lands Puerto Rico’s biggest contract to get the power back on,” by WaPo’s Steven Mufson, Jack Gillum, Aaron C. Davis and Arelis R. Hernández: “For the sprawling effort to restore Puerto Rico’s crippled electrical grid, the territory’s state-owned utility has turned to a two-year-old company from Montana that had just two full-time employees on the day Hurricane Maria made landfall. The company, Whitefish Energy, said last week that it had signed a $300 million contract with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority to repair and reconstruct large portions of the island’s electrical infrastructure. … The unusual decision to instead hire a tiny for-profit company is drawing scrutiny from Congress and comes amid concerns about bankrupt Puerto Rico’s spending as it seeks to provide relief to its 3.4 million residents, the great majority of whom remain without power a month after the storm. …

“Whitefish Energy is based in Whitefish, Mont., the home town of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. Its chief executive, Andy Techmanski, and Zinke acknowledge knowing one another — but only, Zinke’s office said in an email, because Whitefish is a small town where ‘everybody knows everybody.” One of Zinke’s sons ‘joined a friend who worked a summer job’ at one of Techmanski’s construction sites, the email said. Whitefish said he worked as a ‘flagger.’” http://wapo.st/2lb8DM1

FOR YOUR RADAR — AP: “Review to confirm Rohingya ‘ethnic cleansing’,” by Matthew Pennington: “U.S. officials are preparing a recommendation for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to declare that ‘ethnic cleansing’ is occurring against Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims. That assessment would raise pressure on the Trump administration and U.S. lawmakers to consider new sanctions on a country that had been lauded for its democratic transition. Tillerson could receive the recommendation as early as this week, said officials familiar with the process. He will then decide whether to adopt the advice of his agency’s policy experts and lawyers.” http://bit.ly/2yFP6sQ

WAR DEBATE ON CAPITOL HILL — “McCain calls for war powers debate after Niger attack,” by Elana Schor and Connor O’Brien: “Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Monday seized on the deadly ambush in Niger to call for a new congressional authorization for U.S. military operations overseas. McCain told reporters Monday that he and the Armed Services panel’s top Democrat, Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, are working on a proposal to update the broad war powers Congress gave the commander-in-chief after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.” http://politi.co/2hZBle4(extra credit for Steel and Mulhauser’s class. Good luck today — midterms stink.)

TRUMP’S ADMINISTRATION — “Security costs skyrocket at ‘lightning rod’ EPA,” by CNN’s Rene Marsh and Gregory Wallace: “The [EPA] is beefing up security measures surrounding Administrator Scott Pruitt to an unprecedented level, CNN has learned, as members of Congress are asking if the costs are a ‘potential waste or abuse of taxpayer dollars.’ Pruitt’s security detail is in the process of expanding by hiring a dozen more agents … as the number of threats against the agency leader increase. The incoming agents will grow the team that works in shifts to provide him around-the-clock protection, something unheard of for Pruitt’s predecessors. Salaries alone for the full team will cost at least $2 million per year … The numbers do not include costs such as training, equipment, and travel.” http://cnn.it/2zy4ap6

ON HEALTH CARE — “Senate seeking clarity from Trump on Obamacare deal,” by Jen Haberkorn and Adam Cancryn: “Republicans on Capitol Hill can’t seem to tell if the White House wants an Obamacare stabilization bill, leaving their path forward murky. Conflicting statements from President Donald Trump and a list of White House-requested changes circulated over the weekend have given GOP leaders no clarity on whether they should force a controversial vote on the proposed bipartisan Obamacare fix, or set it aside for now and then try to roll it into a far-reaching year-end spending bill.

“‘It’s safe to say the president’s been unclear,’ said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.). Like other Republicans, Capito is hoping Trump takes a clearer position when he makes his first-ever visit to the Senate GOP’s closed-door lunch on Tuesday. ‘I’m certain that’ll be one of the topics we discuss,’ she said.

“Mounting pressure from conservatives makes it all but impossible the Alexander-Murray bill will get a stand-alone vote in the Senate without a clear directive from Trump. Some Republicans, including the bill’s author, Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), and Capito, say the fact the White House weighed in at all is a sign that the legislative process is moving along. Still, Republican aides say the most likely scenario is that it gets wrapped in some fashion into a broad year-end spending deal.” http://politi.co/2zysWVZ

IVANKA HITS THE ROAD – “In Bucks, Ivanka Trump touts benefit of tax cuts for middle class,” by Aubrey Whelan in Philly.com: “At the end of Monday’s town hall meeting on her father’s tax reform plan at a senior center in Richboro, Ivanka Trump flashed a grin at the audience. ‘Is there anything more invigorating,’ she asked, ‘than getting out of Washington?’ It was the most Trumpian thing she’d said all day, after a session spent soberly discussing the merits — but not too many of the details — of the Republican plan to overhaul the tax code.” http://bit.ly/2zxYn2P

ABOUT THAT COMEY IN IOWA PHOTO … — “Yes, James Comey was in Iowa over the weekend,” by the Des Moines Register’s Jason Noble: “An anonymous Twitter account believed to be used by Comey … published three tweets over the weekend alluding to a visit to Iowa. … Comey is married to Patrice Failor, an Iowa native whose brother is Ed Failor Jr., a top staffer for the Republican caucus in the Iowa Senate. Ed Failor’s Facebook page happens to note that his father, Ed Failor Sr., celebrated his 90th birthday over the weekend, just the kind of family celebration an out-of-state daughter and son-in-law would come back for. The Des Moines Register learned that celebration included a birthday dinner at 801 Chophouse in downtown Des Moines, the venerable steakhouse long popular among visiting politicos.” http://dmreg.co/2ldUo9m

— AND ABOUT THAT TILLERSON PHOTO … — “One Meeting. Two Photos. Many Questions,” by NYT’s Mujib Mashal: “It was Kabul and it wasn’t Kabul. There was a clock and there wasn’t a clock. Soon after a two-hour secret visit to Afghanistan by Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson on Monday was publicly disclosed, the American Embassy and the office of President Ashraf Ghani made statements about their productive meeting in Kabul. The problem is that the meeting was not in Kabul, but in a windowless room in Bagram, the heavily fortified American military base a 90-minute drive away. The misinformation, apparently meant to obscure the true venue, was betrayed by discrepancies in similar photographs released by the Americans and the Afghans.

“Both show Mr. Tillerson and Mr. Ghani sitting at the head of the room, two giant television screens behind them. On the coffee table between them is a thermos, two cups, and bottled water. Their delegations sit across from each other. But the version released by Mr. Ghani’s office erased the large digital clock showing ‘Zulu time’ — the military term for Coordinated Universal Time — and a red fire alarm behind Mr. Tillerson and Mr. Ghani, in what would be a giveaway that it was an American military facility.” http://nyti.ms/2gzVDdS

Playbook Reads

PHOTO DU JOUR: President Donald Trump bestows the nation’s highest military honor, the Medal of Honor, to retired Army Capt. Gary M. Rose during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on Oct. 23. | Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo

WHAT TRUMP WILL BE READING — WSJ OP-ED: “James Comey and Robert Mueller Imperil the Rule of Law: The former FBI directors tend to investigate Republicans far more zealously than Democrats,” by Peter Berkowitz. http://on.wsj.com/2xj19Io

FOR MUELLER — “Russia’s Favored Outlet Is an Online News Giant. YouTube Helped,” by NYT’s Daisuke Wakabayashi and Nick Confessore: “When the state-backed Russian news channel RT became the first news organization to surpass one billion views on YouTube in 2013, it marked the achievement with a retrospective of its most popular videos and a special guest — one of the Google-owned site’s senior executives. Robert Kyncl, a YouTube vice president who has since become its chief business officer, joined an RT anchor in a studio, where he praised RT for bonding with viewers by providing ‘authentic’ content instead of ‘agendas or propaganda.’

“But now, as investigators in Washington examine the scope and reach of Russian interference in United States politics, the once-cozy relationship between RT and YouTube is drawing closer scrutiny. YouTube … played a crucial role in helping build and expand RT, an organization that the American intelligence community has described as the Kremlin’s ‘principal international propaganda outlet’ and a key player in Russia’s information warfare operations around the world.” http://nyti.ms/2yKmjks

— “Russian Propaganda Hosted by Man on Staten Island, New York,” by The Daily Beast’s Katie Zavadski, Ben Collins, Kevin Poulsen and Spencer Ackerman: “A company owned by a man on Staten Island, New York, provided internet infrastructure services to DoNotShoot.Us, a Kremlin propaganda site that pretended to be a voice for victims of police shootings, a Daily Beast investigation has found. Every website needs to be ‘hosted’ — given an Internet Protocol address and space on a physical computer—in order to be publicly viewed. DoNotShoot.Us is a website run out of the Kremlin-backed ‘Russian troll farm’ … It was hosted on a server with the IP address 107.181.161.172.

“That IP address was owned by Greenfloid LLC, a company registered to New Yorker Sergey Kashyrin and two others. Other Russian propaganda sites, like BlackMattersUs.com, were also hosted on servers with IP addresses owned by Greenfloid. … The web services company owns under 250 IP addresses, some of which resolve to Russian propaganda sites and other fake news operations.” http://thebea.st/2lbbJ2u

K STREET FILES – “Nestlé decides to split with GMA,” by Helena Bottemiller Evich: “Nestlé, the world’s largest food company, has decided to leave the Grocery Manufacturers Association at the end of the year, according to a source briefed on the decision. The move, which comes after the Swiss company publicly broke from the trade association on key nutrition issues, is a major blow to the powerful food industry group, especially after Campbell Soup Co. announced it would leave the association in June.” For Proshttp://politico.pro/2yLkGmB

SCHOCK WATCH — “Federal judge lets stand Schock indictment,” by John Bresnahan: “A federal judge in Illinois on Monday let stand the vast majority of the indictment against former GOP Rep. Aaron Schock, refusing a defense request to dismiss the charges. However, U.S. District Judge Colin Bruce threw out two of the 24 counts against Schock, which followed an earlier ruling where the judge agreed with the defense team that federal prosecutors had not been candid with the grand jury that charged the one-time Republican rising star.” http://politi.co/2h3gUNo

HMM — “Zinke boosted fortunes of ‘scam PAC’ operators: The Interior secretary has helped raised money for political operatives that some Republicans accuse of raising money from conservative voters while doing little for their cause,” by Ben Lefebvre and Nick Juliano: http://politi.co/2yKCu2M

****** A message from Chevron: This is a story about DOERS, butterflies, and buckwheat. In ’75, the endangered El Segundo Blue butterfly was found near a Chevron refinery. We protected the habitat and planted the only thing they eat—buckwheat. We’re still planting and keeping an eye on our littlest neighbor. Watch the video: http://politi.co/2gDQvZY ******

BUSINESS BURST — “Amazon Says 238 Places Want to Host Its New Headquarters,” by WSJ’s Laura Stevens: “Amazon.com Inc.’s open competition for its second headquarters triggered an extraordinary response, with the tech giant saying 238 cities and regions had bid for the project it expects to cost $5 billion over nearly 20 years. The proposals, from 54 states, provinces, districts and territories, were announced on Monday. Only seven U.S. states don’t have a location participating in the beauty contest, according to a map published by the company. Amazon, based in Seattle, didn’t name any of the bidders or say when it would come up with a short list of finalists.” http://on.wsj.com/2hZCzGf

MEDIAWATCH — PER MICHAEL CALDERONE’s Morning Media: “The Nation’s Joan Walsh will host a new WNYC call-in-radio show, ‘Sunday Calling,’ airing four consecutive Sundays beginning on Oct. 29 at 11 a.m. The show jumps off the first anniversary of the 2016 election and will tackle shifts in the political landscape around topics such as race, gender, religion, and executive authority, as well as, look ahead.”

SPOTTED “at the same time in Hudson News in Terminal C at DCA: the rapper Flo Rida, who was purchasing a Coconut Water, and Morton Blackwell, who was reading the New York Times. They didn’t converse … The whole store went crazy … and Flo Rida was gracious to those who spoke to him (though no one asked for photos) … Morton ignored the hubbub and never looked up from the paper the entire time,” per our tipster.

— POOL REPORT: “A group of ‘this town’ Philly expats that for years came together on Twitter around Eagles games, met in real life at the Hawk and Dove last night. Raucous singing of ‘Fly Eagles Fly’ was heard as the night progressed … The group is planning to reconvene at the opening of DC’s first Wawa in December — and hopefully the Super Bowl!” Pichttp://bit.ly/2y1DxwgSPOTTED: Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), Karen Travers, Paul Kane, Ken Vogel, Ken Baer, Anne Caprara, Ryan Grim, Mike Sacks, Joe Heim, Justin Myers, Tanya Wilson.

TRANSITIONS – Sarah Beth Jansen is joining tech lobby shop Franklin Square Group as a partner. She’s a former aide to then-Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and most recently worked as a senior director of government affairs and policy counsel at tech trade group ITI. She will focus on helping the firm’s clients on cyber, immigration and IP issues.

BIRTHDAYS OF THE DAY: NYT deputy Washington editor Jonathan Weisman is 52. A fun fact about Jonathan: “Mun-hapit hini hapit kun-che hapit ed Majaojao. Translation: I speak Mayoyao Ifugao, a subdialect of the Ifugao dialect, spoken by a few thousand tribesmen in the Gran Cordillera of Northern Luzon [in the Philippines], where I was a Peace Corps volunteer.” Read his Playbook Plus Q&A:http://politi.co/2yJXwOL

— Marc Lotter, former special assistant to President Trump/press secretary to the VP Pence now president of Lotter Communications, who says the Trump presidency is going “very well.” A trend he thinks doesn’t get enough attention: “The soaring American economy under President Trump. Record stock markets, low unemployment, and highest levels of business and consumer confidence in decades each add to an economic boom in the making. The fact this boom is taking place at near full employment should put upward pressure on wages as companies compete for workers. When combined with the president’s commitment to tax cuts, this should result in growing paychecks for the American people.” Q&A:http://politi.co/2xjqYbs

****** A message from Chevron: This is a story about DOERS, butterflies, and buckwheat. In ’75, the endangered El Segundo Blue butterfly was found near a Chevron refinery. We protected the habitat and planted the only thing they eat—buckwheat. We’re still planting and keeping an eye on our littlest neighbor. Watch the video: http://politi.co/2zyUj22 ******

The host of TYT Network's nationally-syndicated Bill Press Show (Monday-Friday from 7-9am ET), Press attends the daily White House press briefing and writes a weekly column for the powerhouse politics website The Hill.